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Sunny Liu

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Performance Management Feedback Compensation

Lesson Objectives

Recognize the importance of performance appraisals

Evaluate effective and ineffective performance appraisal techniques

Determine how the employee is accountable for effective performance management.

Consider the value of being coachable

Assess why we need to give effective feedback and learn how it is done

Define stagiaire and look at its benefits and drawbacks

Understand employee rights with regards to compensation – stages, internships and overtime

Be sure to review document: TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL EXTERNSHIP OR STAGE

What is Performance Management?

A process by which managers and employees work together to plan, monitor and review an employee’s work objectives and overall contribution to the organization.

The ultimate objective is to align individual performance with organizational goals.

More than just an annual performance review, performance management is the continuous process of:

setting objectives,

assessing progress, and,

providing on-going coaching and feedback to ensure that employees are meeting their objectives and career goals.

Recall that one of the primary functions of any manager is: Controlling. Performance management is a key area of control for any manager to monitor productivity, development, contribution and labour cost.

Performance Management is an example of this.

The definition of GREAT performance management: An engaged workforce that is fully aligned with your core business strategies and is moving the organization to success.

http://hrcouncil.ca/hr-toolkit/keeping-people-performance-management.cfm

Goal of Performance Management

The fundamental goal of performance management is to promote and improve employee effectiveness.

An effective performance management system requires that the organization has key HR management practices in place to support the process. These include:

Well designed jobs and written job descriptions

Effective supervision

Comprehensive employee orientation and training

A positive and supportive work environment

The Corporate Leadership Council found that most of the important drivers of employee engagement and performance are related to effective performance management skills, including:

setting clear goals, providing regular feedback supporting employee development.

The Ken Blanchard Companies found that managers who are effective at employee performance management produce better business results, including:

50% less staff turnover

10 to 30%higher customer satisfaction ratings

40% higher employee commitment ratings

200% higher net profits

Essentials of Effective Performance Management

Set clear goals and expectations – employee and manager involved in setting goals – SMART goal training

Provide regular feedback – formal and informal – be specific, timely and show how behaviour is valued.

Support employee development and success – mentoring, job shadowing, coaching, etc.

Hold employees accountable – this can only happen if we involve employees in the goal–setting and performance review process

Managers must be leaders who can coach and develop employees in addition to simply having supervisory skills

What can HR do to drive high performance in your organization?

Set clear goals and expectations – Ensure personal goals in some way contribute to the achievement of the organization’s high level goals. Give your managers and employees (since they should participate in writing their own goals) annual training on how to write effective goals. It’s not an easy skill to master, and we easily forget how to do it well. And make it a priority in you organization to regularly communicate the progress and status for high level organizational goals.

Tip: Provide a sample of an effectively written goal (aka SMART goal) on your review form.

In terms of setting expectations, make sure managers and employees review goals set for the year. Use organizational and job-specific competencies to clarify expectations and help describe what it takes to be successful in a role.

Provide regular feedback – Think of feedback and recognition as an investment in future performance. Have managers provide both formal and informal feedback and recognition. Managers should clearly tell employees what they are doing well, and why the behavior is valued (impact on team, organization, customer, etc.).

Feedback should clearly tell what behavior needs to change/improve and why (impact on team, organization, customer, etc.). Feedback should include a specific example of when the behavior in question was demonstrated (no generalizations!).

Support employee development and success– Building organizational bench strength is just good business. By investing in your employee’s development, you ensure your organization has the built-in knowledge skills and experience it needs to succeed, both today and tomorrow. It’s also a critical way to drive up employee retention.

Remember, development can take many forms: mentoring, job shadowing, volunteer work, lunch and learn sessions, reading books/journals/blogs, coaching, cross-functional team assignments, webinars, podcasts, etc. Managers (and HR) should engage employees to identify the learning activities most appropriate to their needs.

Train your managers to be better leaders

To be successful at performance management, your organization needs people managers who can coach. If the role of the manager is to accomplish or facilitate work through others, then managers need to effectively direct and develop their employees.

As an HR leader you should be ensuring managers are trained on basic supervision skills and trained in coaching and giving performance feedback. Your managers should also be trained on using your organization’s performance management system well.

It can’t be stressed enough: the manager-employee relationship is critical to employee engagement and retention of top performers. As a result, managers should be working hard to build trusting relationships with each employee they supervise.

Hold employees accountable

This point reinforces the importance of organizational alignment and giving employees a role in the goal-setting process. When employees help to set their own goals, it not only ensures they are more engaged in the goal-setting process itself, it also holds them accountable to those goals.

Another way to ensure accountability is to include some sort of self-assessment in your performance management process. This self-assessment has many benefits, the first being that it gives employees a voice in how their performance is assessed and rated. As a result they become an active, rather than passive participant during performance discussions.

Second, it also helps to identify how a manager and employee may perceive performance outcomes differently. The information revealed in a self-assessment can be used to help prepare for a more meaningful discussion about performance as a result. http://www.halogensoftware.com/blog/a-simple-definition-of-performance-managementand-why-everyone-plays-a-role

Performance Management Cycle

Phase 1 – Plan

For a performance management system to be effective, it must start off with proper planning. Management must identify, clarify and agree upon expectations of a particular role and identify how results will be measured. The plan should be documented, and a monitoring process should be put in place.

Phase 2 — Monitor

Employee progress and performance must be continuously monitored. Monitoring day-to-day performance does not mean watching over every aspect of how employees carry out assigned activities and tasks. Managers should not micro-manage employees, but rather focus their attention on results achieved, as well as individual behaviors and team dynamics affecting the work environment. During this phase, the employee and manager should meet regularly to:

Assess progress towards meeting performance objectives

Identify any barriers that may prevent the employee from accomplishing performance objectives and what needs to be done to overcome them

Share feedback on progress relative to the goals

Identify any changes that may be required to the work plan as a result of a shift in organization priorities or if the employee is required to take on new responsibilities

Determine if any extra support is required from the manager or others to assist the employee in achieving his or her objectives

Continuous coaching

Performance management includes coaching employees to address concerns and issues related to performance so that there is a positive contribution to the organization. Coaching means providing direction, guidance, and support as required on assigned activities and tasks. As a coach, managers need to recognize strengths and weaknesses of employees and work with employees to identify opportunities and methods to maximize strengths and improve weak areas. The role of the coach is to demonstrate skills and to give the employee feed back, and reassurance while he or she practices new skills. Good listening skills on the part of the coach, together with the ability to deliver honest feedback, are crucial. In a coaching role, you are not expected to have all the answers. The strategic power of any coaching dialogue lies primarily in the coach's ability to ask the right questions.

Phase 3 – Review and Evaluate

Providing feedback

Positive feedback involves telling someone about good performance. Make this feedback timely, specific and frequent. Recognition for effective performance is a powerful motivator.

Constructive feedback alerts an individual to an area in which performance could improve. It is descriptive and should always be directed to the action, not the person. The main purpose of constructive feedback is to help people understand where they stand in relation to expected and/or productive job and workplace behavior.

Often, it is the positive and supportive feedback that is most readily and easily shared, while finding the right way to provide constructive feedback to address a particular performance issue can be more daunting. If an employee is not meeting performance expectations, managers need to provide constructive and honest feedback. It's important to do this when an issue first arises - before it escalates into a significant problem.

The most significant form of evaluation in the Performance Review where the employer sits down with the employee to review positive as well as constructive feedback as well as to discuss what changes should be made to performance in the future.

Here are a few points to consider when giving constructive feedback:

Prepare

Think through what you want to address in the meeting, confirm the facts of the performance issue and make sure you know and can describe what happened or is happening

Be clear about what the issue is and about the consequences if the employee's performance does not improve

Plan to meet in a location where there will be privacy and minimal interruptions (note that in a unionized environment, you may have to invite a union representative to be with the employee during the discussion)

Be calm, so that you can approach the discussion objectively and with clarity

State the facts

Using a non-threatening tone, describe the performance issue in an objective, factual, nonjudgmental way, providing specific examples

Identify the negative impact on people in the workplace or on the organization

Phase 1: Plan

Review current job description to ensure it reflects the work that the employee is doing and any new responsibilities.

Review the links between the employee’s job description, the organization’s goals, objectives and strategic plan.

Develop a work plan that outlines the tasks or goals to be completed, expected results and measures or standards that will be used to evaluate performance.

Identify 3-5 key performance objectives for the year. These are objectives that are critical to the overall success of the position. They are determined by the organization's strategic plan, the employee's desire to improve in a certain part of their job.

Identify training objectives that will help the employee grow his or her skills, knowledge, and competencies related to their work.

Identify career development objectives that can be part of longer-term career planning.

Both the employee and manager must sign off on the proposed work plan. A copy of the plan should be given to the employee.

Phase 2: Monitor

For a performance management system to be effective, employee performance must be continuously monitored. Do not micro-manage employees, instead, focus attention on results achieved, as well as individual behaviours that impact the working environment.

During this phase, the employee and manager should meet regularly to:

Assess progress towards meeting performance objectives

Share feedback on progress relative to the goals

Identify any barriers that may prevent the employee from accomplishing performance objectives and what needs to be done to overcome them

Determine if any extra support is required from the manager or others to assist the employee

Phase 3: Review and Evaluate

Performance appraisals are used to determine who needs what training, who will be promoted, demoted, retained, or terminated.

The performance review is an opportunity to:

examine and evaluate an employee's work contributions by comparing it with preset standards,

documents the results of the comparison,

use the results to provide feedback to the employee to show where improvements are needed and why.

Employees should also assess their performance in preparation for the appraisal meeting. This encourages accountability and can identify gaps between the employee’s self-perceptions the chef’s.

See Performance Management Review Template on Blackboard

The performance review is an opportunity to:

examine and evaluate an employee's work behavior by comparing it with preset standards,

documents the results of the comparison, uses the results to provide feedback to the employee to show where improvements are needed and why.

Performance appraisals are employed to determine who needs what training, and who will be promoted, demoted, retained, or fired.

One of the most important things you can do to ensure the success of your employee performance appraisal is to actively prepare for it. Whether your company includes a self-evaluation step in their process or not, you don't have to play a passive role where you are merely the recipient of feedback and direction from your manager. By properly preparing for your appraisal meeting with your manager, you can ensure your manager has a broader picture of your performance and career goals, foster dialogue, and take charge of your career progression. Here are some tips to help you prepare for your performance appraisal.

Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/performance-appraisal.html

Your Performance Review

Review your job description, personal and organizational goals, and development plans

Use these as the foundation for preparing details on your accomplishments, strengths and areas for development.

Gather any regular reports you've created (e.g. weekly reports, monthly highlights, project status reports) or significant contributions you have made to highlight performance milestones, as well as any challenges.

Review your last performance appraisal and look at the feedback and ratings you were given. It will give you a clear idea of how you've developed over the period.

1. Gather information

Review your job description and the goals, competencies and development plans set out for you at your last appraisal. Use these as the foundation for preparing details on your accomplishments, strengths and areas for development.

Gather any regular reports you've created (e.g. weekly reports, monthly highlights, project status reports). They'll help you recall performance highlights and milestones, as well as any challenges.

It can also be helpful to review your last appraisal and look at the feedback and ratings you were given then. It will help give you a sense of how you've grown and developed over the last period.

2. Prepare a list of your accomplishments

If you've kept a journal of your performance over the last performance cycle, get it out now and review your notes. Notice any trends or recurring themes that reveal things like: particular strengths, challenging people or situations, knowledge or skills you need to develop, projects or work you really enjoyed, etc.

If you didn't keep a journal, start today. Keeping a record of your activities, accomplishments, successes and challenges as they happen helps you capture details while they're fresh in your mind. Having all this detail at hand will help both you and your manager get a broader, more objective view of your performance over the entire period, and avoid being biased by recent events. It will also make your preparation for your next performance appraisal faster and easier.

With all this information as background, you're ready to prepare a list of your accomplishments. As you do, it's important to relate them to your goals and higher level organizational goals. Make sure you capture the "how" not just "what" you accomplished but keep it brief; don’t use this as a diary or performance journal. Give your manager any contextual details they need to understand your performance. Identify any challenges that limited your abilities to succeed, as well as any support you received from others.

Think about your audience. What does your manager need to know? What do they already know?

Gather any letters, emails, certificates of recognition, awards, etc. that document exemplary performance since your last appraisal. Also gather any written communications that identify challenges or problems with knowledge and performance.

Make note of any training or development activities you completed.

Think of this as an opportunity to let your light shine. Your manager may not be aware of all the great things you've done, especially the many small things that can really add up and make a difference.

You can use this information as background for your discussion with your manager during your performance appraisal meeting, or even submit it to your manager before your review, to help them in their preparation.

You can use the details from your list of accomplishments and journal notes to provide summaries of your performance of goals. It can also be helpful to list or cite specific examples of your work to backup your ratings.

5. Prepare a list of areas for development

In reviewing your job description, competencies, goals, performance journal notes, list of accomplishments, etc, identify any areas where you felt you struggled, or where others may have noted your performance lacked, and make note of these.

You should also identify any areas where you would like to expand your skills/experience/expertise or share them with others as part of your career growth and progression.

Be honest about your struggles, and when you meet with your manager, ask for coaching, mentoring, training, or whatever support you need to develop, improve or be more successful. No one is perfect. Everyone should be continually learning and developing.

You should also think about your career plans if you have any and be prepared to talk to your manager about them. What skills/knowledge/experience do you need to develop to help you achieve these goals?

6. Draft goals for the coming period

Don’t wait for your manager to hand down your goals to you. Take a proactive approach and draft some possible goals based on your job description, your department or the organization's higher level goals, your skills/experience/abilities, etc. In drafting your goals, you might want to look for opportunities to expand your duties, broaden your knowledge, or take on more responsibility. You can review and refine these in your meeting with your manager.

8.Keep an open mind

Often, we come to our performance appraisal meeting with our manager feeling a bit defensive. We're bracing ourselves to hear criticism, or we're jockeying for ratings/positioning that impact our compensation and advancement in the company.

Unfortunately, when we're defensive, we don't listen very well. Prepare yourself for your performance appraisal meeting with your manager by trying to relax and let go of any defensiveness you're aware of. Your goal should be to listen deeply to the feedback your manager provides you, as well as the goals and development plans they lay out for you.

Conclusion

It's your career! You have both the power and responsibility to manage your own performance and ensure your ongoing development and success. Make the most of the opportunity your performance appraisal offers to make your contributions known and to get meaningful feedback and direction that will help you grow. Proper preparation and participation can help ensure that.

Your Performance Review

Prepare a list of your accomplishments

Review your own performance. (It’s a great idea to keep your own performance journal.) Your manager may not be aware of all the great things you've done, especially the many small things that can really add up and make a difference.

Notice any recurring themes that reveal things like: particular strengths, challenging people or situations, knowledge or skills you need to develop, projects or work you really enjoyed, etc.

Gather any letters, emails, certificates of recognition, awards, etc. that document exemplary performance since your last appraisal.

Make note of any training or development activities you completed.

Summarize the work accomplished in the previous year in relation to the goals that were set - the key results, accomplishments and shortfalls for each of the objectives.

Document any challenges encountered during the year and identify areas for training and development

Identify and discuss any barriers to the achievement of your performance objectives

Both employee and supervisor must sign off on the appraisal.

This acknowledges involvement in the process, but not necessarily agreement by employee with the content of the evaluation.

If an employee disagrees with any part of the performance assessment, provide them with the opportunity to attach their comments and file with their performance assessment form.

The employee receives a copy of the appraisal form and the signed document is put in the employee's file.

Your Performance Review

Prepare a list of areas for development

Identify any areas where you felt you struggled, or where others may have noted your performance lacked, and make note of these.

Identify areas where you would like to expand your skills/expertise as part of your career growth and progression.

Be honest about your struggles, and ask for coaching, mentoring, training support you need to develop, and be more successful. No one is perfect. Everyone should be continually learning and developing.

Your Performance Review

Draft goals for the coming period

Don’t wait for your manager to give you your goals. Take a proactive approach and draft some possible goals based on your job description, your department or the organization's higher level goals, your skills/experience/abilities - look for opportunities to expand your duties, broaden your knowledge, or take on more responsibility.

Keep an open mind

If we come to our performance appraisal meeting feeling a defensive, we don't listen very well. Your goal should be to listen to the feedback as well as the goals and development plans they lay out for you.

Make the most of the opportunity your performance appraisal offers to make your contributions known and to get meaningful feedback and direction that will help you grow.

Performance Appraisal Approaches

Results Appraisals

what a worker accomplishes or the results of their performance.

Most objective method

Eg.: waste, amount of time required to complete tasks, errors, etc., are measured against standards

Not all job aspects can be evaluated this way

Behaviour Appraisals

how workers perform their jobs—actions and behaviours they exhibit on the job.

Focuses on what a worker does right and how they could improve – communication, leadership, teamwork, goal-focused

Performance Appraisal: how often?

Performance appraisals should be conducted at a minimum of once per year

Studies show that more frequent feedback with employee may have positive implications for both the organization and employee

More frequent feedback prevents minor issues or poor performance from becoming problems

See Mini-Performance Review example on Blackboard

Image source: Marina Social

Effective Performance Coaching Guidelines

Build a working environment built on mutual trust and caring.

Maintain an ongoing, two-way dialogue about performance sharing expectations, provide coaching, answer questions.

Feedback and coaching is focused on desired behaviours and outcomes, and opportunities for development, not on “failures.”

Treat mistakes or less than desired results as learning opportunities rather than failures.

The goals you assign your employees must be achievable.

Support your employees’ career development and progression by providing ongoing development opportunities.

Recognize and reward accomplishments, progress and success.

Work to see the potential in every one of your employees and help them to be their best.

Help each employee to discover and bring their passion to their work.

(http://www.halogensoftware.com/blog/are-you-committed-to-your-employees-success-teaching-vs-coaching-your-employees)

To make your performance reviews as productive as possible:

Be prepared

Lead with the positive

Don’t be confrontational

Keep it Simple

Be consistent

Make it a two-way conversation

Address what’s important to the employee

Discuss work/life balance

Be a good listener

Give Feedback Regularly

Avoid Poor Performance Review Pitfalls

Too vague

No preparation

They never happen at all

No recognition for a job well done

No follow-up

No discussion about the employee’s ambitions and development goals

Everything’s perfect – until it’s not and you’re fired

Recency effect

Too vague. Do not be brief and generic in giving the employee unspecific feedback on the work they’ve done over the course of the last year. Be specific about what you liked and didn’t like in their performance.

No preparation: doing reviews ‘on the fly’ is unacceptable. When this occurs, the message sent to the employee from the boss is: “I’m very important and busy. I don’t have time to tell you how I think you’re doing at your job.”

They never happen at all: The bosses who don’t plan their performance reviews are typically not great planners in their jobs, either. An effective leader understands this is an important aspect to organizational success and plans for performance reviews.

No pats on the back or recognition for a job well done: Employees are demotivated when their dedication and performance is never recognized. Sincerely thank your people when they do a good job. It’s the cheapest bonus you’ll ever pay.

No follow-up: As part of every performance review, there should be goals set for the coming year. The worst bosses forget about these goals as soon as they’ve been completed. There’s no quarterly review of them to see if the employee is on track. There’s no mid-stream feedback on how the report is doing in relation to the goals or tips from the boss on what to do to get back on track. Then, 12 months later, the old form gets pulled out from the file to be discussed again and new goals are set.

No discussion about the employee’s ambitions and development goals: People don’t think a lot of their career path – whether they’re a boss or a report. Yet, people need to be asked “what do you want to do?” or “where do you want to go?” at every performance review (or at a separate dedicated meeting annually). This forces the employee to look him or herself in the mirror.

Everything’s perfect – until it’s not and you’re fired. It is unfair and ineffective to handle poor performance like this when especially when the boss has been bothered by some aspect of the employee’s performance, but never bothered to mention it to them until the time of their firing.

Recency effect: Some bosses seem to have no memory, so they only base their opinions on the most recent events and opinions from others to form their opinion on what’s happening over the long-term, which is not accurate.

When Performance Management Goes So Wrong

What is going wrong here?

Who is responsible?

What are 3 things, from the lesson on performance management and feedback, that could have prevented this awkward performance review situation?

Watch the video (2min. 38sec.): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdp4sPviV74

Feedback

Leaders skilled at feedback can better influence behaviour, redirect performance, build understanding of organizational goals, while effectively demonstrating leadership.

Image source: http://www.reading-college.ac.uk

Feedback is a powerful tool through which leaders demonstrate support, reinforce values, and build accountability.

Feedback needs to be an ongoing practice supported by shared expectations and effective monitoring.

Feedback should not be an infrequent event focused solely on negative performance.

Why Feedback Works

Feedback motivates behavior.

People who are well-informed about their performance are more accountable about how they perform.

Feedback influences how workers see themselves, giving them the confidence to take on new challenges.

Feedback provides leaders an immediate, direct and useful way to give—and gather—information about performance.

Chef Piggott and team: utoronto.ca

Feedback How-To

Effective feedback includes two elements:

Success feedback: reinforcing behaviours you want continued

Guidance feedback: redirecting behaviours that must improve or change

Feedback that is timely, specific and descriptive increases performance improvement.

Use behavioural words and be specific:

“You showed a lot of initiative in resolving that issue”

“I can always count on you to see a project right through to completion”

rather than

“You did a great job.”

Feedback vs. Criticizing

Ask employee for her view of the situation. People are more receptive when they have a chance to explain first. You might also learn something new that will explain the situation or change your point of view. Be sensitive to people’s feelings. Effective managers demonstrate concern for the well-being of their employees. This doesn’t mean withholding criticism or ignoring problems, however.

2. Before a feedback session, your goal is to gather evidence that allows you to describe:

Specific behaviour. Be specific about what the person has done or not done, without judging her intent. Avoid statements that begin “You always. . .” or “You never. . .”

The impact of that behaviour. Tell the person how her behavior is affecting you, the team, or the business.

What you want the person to do differently. Your employee can’t read your mind. Be clear and detailed about what needs to change.

3. Implement a clear action plan that the employee understands to resolve the situation.

4. Follow up to ensure the situation has been resolved. When you follow up, you are telling employees that you are being thorough and that the work is important.

Feedback That Works

Cynthia M. Phoel

https://hbr.org/2009/04/feedback-that-works.html

Fundamentally, feedback is a good thing. For managers, it’s an important tool for shaping behaviors and fostering learning that will drive better performance. For their direct reports, it’s an opportunity for development and career growth.

Why, then, is it so problematic? Most managers say they dislike giving feedback and don’t think it’s as effective as it could be. Those on the receiving end say they don’t get enough feedback they can actually use.

Many reasons account for this disconnect. Strong emotions on both sides, a focus on character rather than on behavior, and a lack of clarity about what needs to change and why are just a few of the factors that can undermine a feedback session, write Mark D. Cannon and Robert Witherspoon in an Academy of Management Executive article. What can a manager do to improve feedback?

Focus on business outcomes

Business outcomes should be your starting place for giving feedback: You need to develop talent, boost sales, improve service. When feedback is framed as a means to reach a specific business goal, it becomes an opportunity to solve a problem rather than criticize.

A character attack provides no information and doesn’t offer any actionable ideas for change. Before a feedback session, find concrete data that may or may not support your conclusions. Your goal is to gather evidence that will allow you to describe:

Specific behavior. Be specific about what the person has done or not done, without judging her intent. Avoid statements that begin “You always. . .” or “You never. . .”

The impact of that behavior. Tell the person how her behavior is affecting you, the team, or the business.

What you want the person to do differently. Your employee can’t read your mind. Be explicit about what needs to change.

This opportunity is not geared only to the manager. When feedback is focused on the employee’s development, “that makes it a lot more helpful,” says Cannon, a professor of leadership and organizational studies at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville. “Feedback becomes a gift of someone investing in the recipient’s career.”

Give feedback often

Feedback works best when it’s a continual process rather than a formal session once or twice a year. In fact, experts agree that the yearly performance appraisal is the worst time to surprise an employee with negative feedback. You’re nervous, and so is the employee. With pulse rates up and adrenaline flowing, the natural response is fight or flight, not the thoughtfulness an effective feedback session requires.

Practice giving feedback often; soon it will become a habit. Praise good performance right away. When negative feedback is required, talk with the employee within 24 hours.

Use clear, nonjudgmental language that focuses on results and behaviour:

Negative Feedback

“Your work has been sloppy lately.” (Negative: too vague)

“You’re obviously not a mathematician.” (Negative: focuses on the person, not on performance)

“Don’t let it happen again.” (Negative: blanket demands)

“I hope your graphics are better this time than last time.” (Negative: Lack of confidence; mean)

Effective Feedback

“Your last three reports contained an unacceptable number of statistical errors.” (Positive: cites specifics)

“I know you’re capable of producing more accurate work.” (Positive: reaffirms confidence in employee’s abilities)

“How can we prevent errors from effecting quality of plates coming from your station?” (Positive: asks for feedback on improving performance)

“So, we’ve agreed that you’ll spend more time developing your knife skills to improve your efficiency. Let’s give you 1 hour/day this week to practice and we can follow up next Monday.” (Positive: collaborative; set’s employee up to succeed)

But, are you doing your part?

All of the performance management efforts in the world from the leader will not be effective if an employee is not coachable.

Non-Coachable vs. Coachable

Non-Coachable

Always thinking they’re right

Not willing to learn new things or grow

Not open to change

Negativity/Pessimism

Putting others down

Eye rolling during criticism

Disrespectful of others and opinions

Inability to self-reflect

Coachable

Open to change

Easy going

Receptive to constructive criticism

Desire to be better

Positive and optimistic

Humble

Hungry

Self-aware

Persistent and determined

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-probert-mpt/what-it-means-to-be-coachable-and-why-you-should-care_b_9178372.html

Being coachable - even if it makes you feel vulnerable - is the secret to achieving many or most of your dreams.

Being coachable is about awareness and the ability to take the gold nuggets from a situation and use them to your advantage. There’s wisdom in being coachable. It means you’re paying attention to other people and the experience, wisdom, skills and knowledge they’ve earned and you’re willing to listen close enough to see what might help you on your own journey.

If you’re NOT coachable, you’ll quickly find your experience with whatever you’re involved in becomes difficult or just plain boring. Being coachable means you’re leaving room for the possibility that there’s something you haven’t learned yet that could make you even better.

Be open to that possibility.

Be coachable.

Being Coachable – why it’s important

If you wish to grow, learn, improve, excel, you should care about whether or not you’re coachable.

Being coachable relates to a happy, productive life. It means you’re ready to do what it takes to change, transform, improve or excel.

Being coachable means you’re leaving room for the possibility that there’s something you haven’t learned yet that could make you even better.

Be open to that possibility.

Be coachable.

Find a leader/chef who is a coach and be a sponge.

Being coachable means you’re open to listening to feedback, able to receive constructive criticism without taking it personally, willing to take a look at your own performance in order to improve it, and generally a super-badass-enthusiastic go getter type of person.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-probert-mpt/what-it-means-to-be-coachable-and-why-you-should-care_b_9178372.html

Leadership Development

Competence comes with training & development and by putting it into practice

Growth and excellence are a result of applying what you learn through coaching and performance management

Leaders seek out feedback and development opportunities

These are essential steppingstones to becoming a leader

Compensation

Overtime

Salary/Day Rate

So, what is fair?

The Current $ tate of Toronto's Culinary Industry

Read the G&M article on exploitation of cooks in the industry

Image Credit: Stannesman/flickr

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/food-trends/a-cycle-of-exploitation-how-restaurants-get-cooks-to-work-12-hour-days-for-minimum-wage-or-less/article26999168/

Overtime and the Salaried Employee in Ontario

Employees do not have the ability to contract out or waive minimum employment standards.

Salaried employees have the same entitlement to overtime as hourly employees. Salary and hourly pay are merely methods by which wages are paid and affect how the entitlement to overtime is calculated, not whether it exists. The regular pay of salaried employees is determined by dividing their weekly salary by the hours in their regular work week.

So this means that any cook who signs a contract to work for a day rate is not signing away his/her right to overtime pay in Canada.

So, what exactly does this mean? Well, it means that an employee cannot waive their rights to what is already mandated in Canada’s Employment Standards Act. An employee cannot agree to giving away their rights to overtime pay by not working for an hourly wage. A salaried employee, meaning one that is being paid a daily or weekly rate instead of an hourly wage have the same entitlement to overtime pay. Managers, chefs, sous chefs, who are salaried are currently not entitled to overtime as their wages are to be higher to make up for the extra work and time they put in.

Overtime and the Salaried Employee in Ontario: A Disaster Waiting to Happen

April 2010

Co-authored: George Waggott and Aaron Rousseau

About one in five employees in Canada works overtime, averaging about nine extra hours per week. Only about half of these employees are compensated with overtime pay. That means potentially one in ten Canadian employees are working unpaid overtime hours. This represents over $15 billion in potential claims for unpaid overtime every year, just at straight time. 1 At time and a half, this is more than $22.5 billion. So far, five large class action lawsuits have been commenced by plaintiffs in Canada, alleging overtime hours that have not been compensated for by their employers, as required by both provincial and federal employment standards legislation.

Employees do not have the ability to contract out or waive minimum employment standards.

There is a widespread misconception that salaried workers are not entitled to overtime pay. According to the Human Resources Professional Association of Ontario, 44.75% of organizations said their non-management, salaried employees are expected to work overtime without pay. 13 Whether an employee is paid on an hourly or salary basis is not criteria for overtime entitlement. Salaried employees have the same entitlement to overtime as hourly employees. Salary and hourly pay are merely methods by which wages are paid and affect how the entitlement to overtime is calculated, not whether it exists. The regular pay of salaried employees is determined by dividing their weekly salary by the hours in their regular work week.

The ESA states that employers normally cannot require or permit an employee to work more than 48 hours in week. 15 Outside of an emergency, an employee can exceed 48 hours in a week only when the employee has signed a written agreement to do so and the employer has applied for approval to the Ministry of Labour. At that point, the limit rises to 60 hours a week.

Form of Compensation

For the same amount of money and the same total hours, most employees would rather have a higher base salary and not earn overtime pay. This gives them the financial security of receiving the same amount of pay each week. It's also easier for the employer, because it makes record-keeping and budgeting simpler. Unfortunately, the law does not automatically presume that employees made this implicit trade-off. If employers and employees want to make this reasonable trade-off, they should consider specifying a realistic number of hours in a written employment contract. Employers who don't protect themselves in this way run the risk of paying for an employee's overtime twice; first through higher wages, and second through unpaid extra hours – at the already high wage rate.

Another problem is extra compensation for hard workers through bonuses or promotions. Neither bonuses nor promotions count as overtime pay, should an employee bring a claim for unpaid hours.

Many employers try to cut unlawful deals with employees. The effort is doomed to fail. Under the legislation, an employee cannot "contract out" of overtime, even if they want to. The result is that employers cannot, for example, agree to a higher wage but no overtime pay.

If an employer does not want employees to work overtime, the employer must not only order them to refrain from or stop the overtime, it must also see to it that they do not work it.

Simply stating that an employee will only be paid a fixed salary with no overtime does not end the overtime issue. If the employee's hours of work exceed the overtime threshold, then the employer will need to pay the employee overtime. Even if the employee's regular hours exceed 44 hours a week, the law will not accept that the employee contracted for no overtime pay. Instead the employer will need to pay overtime every week.

http://www.mcmillan.ca/Overtime-and-the-Salaried-Employee-in-Ontario-A-Disaster-Waiting-to-Happen

Overtime

Many employers try to cut unlawful deals with employees. Under the legislation, an employee cannot "contract out" of overtime, even if they want to. The result is that employers cannot agree to a higher wage but no overtime pay.

And, if an employer does not want employees to work overtime, the employer must not only order them to refrain from or stop the overtime, it must also see to it that they do not work it.

Simply stating that an employee will only be paid a fixed salary with no overtime does not end the overtime issue. If the employee's hours of work exceed the overtime threshold, then the employer will need to pay the employee overtime. All cooks are advised to track their hours. If there is a conflict and the labour board is involved they will want to see evidence of hours worked.

In kitchens, it is common practice for cooks to come in 2-3 hours before their shift begins and not get paid for the work they complete, but this goes directly against the ESA in Canada. Some chefs will state, “if a cook comes in on his/her own time, that is their choice so we’re not responsible for paying them.” However, once an employee sets foot in the workplace and starts working, the employer/chef is responsible and must either tell them to stop working or pay them. They are not allowed to put this accountability on the employee because it is too easy to take advantage of people by setting up a culture that encourages people to get ahead by working for free. Think about it, if 3 cooks constantly come in 2 hours early and you don’t, who will be seen as more dedicated? If you work, the law states you must be paid.

The Culinary Stagiaire

“A culinary degree—while enormously helpful—is only helpful to a point. A year working at Mugaritz or L’Arpège or Arzak can transform your life—become a direct route to other great kitchens. All the great chefs know each other. Do right by one and they tend to hook you up with the others.” ~Anthony Bourdain

http://blog.ruhlman.com/2010/09/so-you-wanna-be-a-chef%E2%80%94-by-bourdain-2/

Staging is similar to trialling in professional kitchens. Trialling is an activity often used to assess the skills and training of a cooking job candidate. The hiring chef might assess the trial cook's adaptive skills in the new kitchen and how they interact with other staff in the restaurant. When a culinary student or cook-in-training is seeking an internship, often the trial is the next step after the interview.

A server or waiter can also "stage" in a restaurant for much the same purpose.

What is a stage (pronounced "staahj") ?

Stagiaire is a French word meaning:

trainee, apprentice or intern.

A stagiaire, or stage, is an unpaid kitchen apprenticeship where a cook or chef works briefly, for free, in exchange for learning and to be exposed to new techniques and cuisines.

Before modern culinary schools, cooks learned their craft as unpaid apprentices in professional restaurant kitchens under the supervision of a mentoring chef.

Image source: luckypeach.com

Edouardo Jordan, the thirty-five-year-old chef and owner of the half-year-old Salare in Seattle

Edouardo Jordan, the thirty-five-year-old chef and owner of the half-year-old Salare in Seattle – for more: http://luckypeach.com/on-being-black-in-the-kitchen-edouardo-jordan/

Should you do a ‘stage?’

“Every kitchen you spend time in will teach you something different. In one, you’ll learn speed. In another, precision. In a third, you might see techniques you didn’t even know were possible. A fourth chef might have a phenomenal palate, and a fifth might be a screamer that teaches you what kind of kitchen to get the hell out of.”

– Michael Natkin Cooking Internship, Theory and Rants

However, it is illegal to have anyone work without compensation in Canada. No employer should ask you to work for free to ‘pay your dues’

A stage should be the choice of the cook – it should be something you seek out so you can learn not so that you can be exploited as free labour

http://herbivoracious.com/2012/03/so-you-want-to-stage-intern-at-a-restaurant.html

So it would seem that doing a stage is a good thing, right? Well, in fact it can be a great thing to do for a new cook. One has to be careful, however. All stages should be undertaken at your own discretion. You should be making the choice to earn something in a currency that is meaningful to you. Unpaid stages should not be open-ended. Many cooks who travel will ask to stage in a kitchen for several shifts but it shouldn’t be about paying dues in order to secure employment. The culinary industry is not the only industry where employees are taken advantage of. In 2011, unpaid interns for the 2010 movie Black Swan — who knowingly and voluntarily worked for free on the production team — filed a lawsuit claiming they were entitled to minimum wage under federal laws in America. During the case, the judge analyzed the legality of the production internships under guidelines issued by the DOL. Of course, the findings are from American courts but they are precedent setting. In determining whether internships are legal, the courts are instructed to follow these guidelines:

1. The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment;

2. The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern;

3. The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff;

4. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded;

5. The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship; and

6. The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.

The judge determined that Black Swan's unpaid production internships failed the first four factors I just listed and, as a result, violated important labour laws. As a matter of law, the interns were considered employees and, as such, were entitled to be paid. Again, this happened in the US in a different industry but it is getting attention because unpaid stages/internship are starting to be so prevalent and many potential employees, in all industries are experiencing hardships that existing laws are supposed to prevent. In conclusion, if you choose to do a stage, then do so and be sure that you are setting the boundaries for it. Avoid being lured into the promise of future employment if you just work for the next 4 months for free, for instance. This is not a stage. Yes, it happens, and many will argue that if you want to be the best this is how you do it but beware. At the end of the day, working for free means there is no employment contract, and in some cases, no protection if you get hurt on the job. Essentially, a person doing an unpaid stage or internship doesn’t exist on the employer’s books. If they promise you work afterward, there is nothing that can hold them to that.

"Stages are going to happen, legal or not," says chef Justin Woodward, who currently leads the kitchen at Portland's Castagna but previously staged at Noma and Mugaritz. "But is it important to [make] stages legal in my opinion? Very much so. A place like Noma or Mugaritz is what it is because of stages. A restaurant with a surplus of manpower is capable of reaching new heights, and it would be great to see more restaurants like that in the United States... I would like to see American cuisine raised to a higher level and permitting restaurants to host stages would help bring this about."

https://www.eater.com/2015/3/16/8210363/restaurant-stage-illegal-stagiaire-kitchen-intern

Pros and Cons of Staging

PROS

Build upon skills learned at school

Expose yourself to new cuisine, techniques and even cultures

You will learn whether you have or can develop the stamina to work in a professional kitchen

Earning respect and building connections to help direct your career path

CONS

It usually means working without pay or promise of employment

You could be exploited as free labour

No learning or development takes place

Paid work could be taken away from someone else

Preparing for a stage:

your goal is to demonstrate that you can be a net plus in the kitchen, so that by later in your stage you’ll be allowed to do more interesting things and learn as much as possible.

all your tools should be clean and sharp. if you don't need your gigantic tool-kit, don't bring it. bring only the tools your chef tells you you need.Practice your knife skills as you will probably be prepping tons of veg-you will have to uniformly and quickly julienne, slice, dice, mince, etc.

Have a small notebook and a couple of sharpies (one fine and one medium)

look and learn. try not to chat or ask a lot of questions. see if your answer is in front of you before asking it.

Be serious, respectful, polite, humble, clean, organized, and has a sense of urgency

KEEP YOUR OPINIONS TO YOURSELF.

Be coachable; leave your ego at the door. The answer to every question is either "Yes, Chef" or "No, Chef" it's always better to start out more polite than you need to be.

immediately after every day of staging, write down EVERYTHING you saw, did, heard. even if this isn't legible to anyone else but you; even if grammar can't find it's way into your sentences, write it down. at least 30m before you go into that kitchen, read through your notes twice. at the end of every week, create a list of the most important things you saw, heard, smelled, ate, tasted, felt etc.

say “behind you”, “hot behind”, “sharp behind”, “corner”, “oven open”, “knife”, etc – and do it every time. It is a matter of both safety and respect to let each other know where the hazards are.

Hygiene is essential. Wash your hands well and frequently, at least a few times during a shift and anytime you handle anything messy. When you go to the restroom, leave your apron and towel outside. And, do not handle your phone while working!

Be nice to the folks in the dish pit. They are the backbone of a kitchen. Learn where they want stuff stacked, and which things (typically anything sharp) you wash yourself.

Keep your focus on you and keep your area clean. Accountability is your best friend. Accountability is looking deep within yourself and coming clean to your chef and your team when you've made a mistake.

If for some reason you don’t have something to do, ask other folks if there is something you can help with, or find something to clean.

Always be aware of what you want to achieve and track your success!

http://eggbeater.typepad.com/shuna/so-you-want-to-be-a-chef-.html (follow the Eggbeater blog of Shuna Fish Lydon

For more info read the LINECOOK Blog on being a stagier: http://linecook415.blogspot.ca/2010/03/stage-guide.html

In Conclusion

Read the document:

Tips for having a successful externship found in the week 6 folder

So that’s HRM – we’ve just skimmed the surface, but everything we’ve covered will give you a frame of reference as you head off into the workforce.

It’s a lot to take in, but now you should be feeling that you know more about your rights and how human resources should be managed from recruitment and selection, health and safety, right through to performance management and feedback. You also should be developing a strong appreciation for how much power you have over your career path and the need for goals and commitment to your own career planning and personal development.

Be sure that you know your rights, and when you’re responsible for others, you will be able to respect them and their rights too, the benchmark of a respected chef. Confidently build experience by doing stages but be proactive in knowing what you want to learn and what your boundaries are. It is easy to get swept into working for free in this industry because such precedents have been set but this isn’t what you have to do. Many cooks will sign their employment contract agreeing to be paid a daily or weekly rate, but remember, you are still entitled to overtime pay if you work more than 44 hours/week, unless you have signed on to a management position. As you go out to do your first externship, approach it with curiosity, humility and passion. Feel confident that you have chosen your externship well and, in 14 weeks, you will have grown substantially as a culinary professional. Be sure to read the document, Tips for Having a Successful Externship found in the week 6 folder on Blackboard.

Then, read some of these other great memoirs by the likes of Jaques Pepin, Bill Bulford, Daniel Boulud, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg, Grant Achatz, and Bourdain. You aren’t reading these books because your experience in your first week of staging will be anything like what these folks have done, but because they will inspire you, and because they give you some sense of what it will feel like and what is expected of you. But do keep in mind, many of these books are sensationalized and are from a different time, when more chefs were screamers and pot throwers. There are still pirate-ship operations out there, but most kitchens these days are a lot more calm and professional. Still, you can learn plenty by reading them.

http://herbivoracious.com/2012/03/so-you-want-to-stage-intern-at-a-restaurant.html